PS507 ETHICS for Behavior Analysts #1
As a supervisee engaging in a Supervised Field Experience under the guidance of an experienced Board Certified Behavior Analyst, you work for a small rural agency that provides behavioral support services to clients with a variety of diagnoses and disabilities. There is limited access to other behavior analytic services outside of your agency. Since you are nearing the end of your supervision experience, your BCBA supervisor has asked you to work on a case for a 10-year-old boy named Frankie who has been diagnosed with Autism. He also has several food allergies (non-life threatening) and food selectivity issues, which contribute to a number of behavioral concerns. Frankies parents have requested behavioral treatment because he frequently attempts to steal food that he is allergic to and will become aggressive when he is not allowed to have it. In addition, he will regularly refuse to eat at mealtimes because the foods that his parents serve to him are non-preferred, often throwing his plate of food or running away from the table. In preparation for your next supervision meeting, your Supervisor has asked you to determine the steps needed to proceed with Frankies case, and to develop a plan of action to begin working with Frankie and his parents. Even though you have never worked on a case dealing specifically with problem eating behaviors, you are eager to learn and want to accumulate the knowledge as part of your supervision experience. You also learn that your supervisor has only worked on one other case like this a few years back and does not have very much experience, either.
Part One: Determine the Ethical Concerns
First, given that you have never worked on this kind of case before, discuss the specific ethical considerations with regards to the ethical codes and core principles that need to be addressed related to responsibility to the field, the supervision process, and your role as a supervisee.
Part Two: Establish a Plan of Action
Next, determine a plan of action for Frankies case, including how you would conduct a risk/benefit analysis, and specifically outline each of the key ethical considerations that will support the steps in the assessment and intervention processes. Be sure to use the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (2020) as a framework, and take careful thought in supporting your discussions with specific codes and relevant rationale. Also, include how certain core ethical principles discussed by Bailey & Burch (2016) (i.e do no harm, being just, etc) might be applied to each aspect of your response (10-15 pages).
Other Requirements
You should apply APA Style formatting throughout your paper. Include a title page, section headings, in-text citations, and a references page. Keep direct quotes to a minimum. You should also include an introductory paragraph, thesis sentence, and summary paragraph.
You should cite relevant empirical research and scholarly articles within Applied Behavior Analysis. You should cite a minimum of seven peer-reviewed journal articles. You should carefully select sources after reviewing the literature and evaluating the credibility, relevance, quality, and research merit of each source.